Snapecase Recs

[kelly_chambliss]

Got the January blues? Well, you'll find the perfect antidote at the snapecase fest, which is currently posting. There's something for every Snape-ish taste -- a fine variety of tones, genres, pairings, gen. The fest divides Snape's life into five categories: one for each decade of his canon life, and a fifth for the life he had after canon ended. The fest rotates these categories chronologically, so that you start with Snape aged zero to ten, move on to ages eleven-twenty, and so on. I'm always fascinated by the different takes that authors and artists have on our Byronic hero.

So cheer yourself up with some Snapey goodness. You can't go wrong no matter what you pick. Here are a few of my favorites (and choosing just a few was NOT EASY, believe me).

ART

Bad Choice
Category: Snape aged 11-20
Character(s): Severus Snape
Rating: g
A stark line drawing in black and white and blood that epitomizes its title.

Library Pleasures
Category: Snape aged 21-30
Character(s): Severus Snape
Rating: G
Snape in a golden moment of quiet and peace. With striped socks. And bony knees.

FIC

Magic Maketh Man
Category: Snape aged 41 and beyond
Character(s): Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Draco Malfoy
Rating: G
A sketch more than a story, this fic features a spot-on Snape pov. The understated snark, the pitch-perfect diction, the wry insights...all very well done. And as a bonus, you'll find a delightful friendship with Minerva.

Golem
Category: Snape aged 41 and beyond
Character(s): Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall
Rating: R
This fic is seriously brilliant. I've never read anything quite like it -- ancient lore and dazzling poetry and elemental power and a strong sense of the awfulness (in the old sense) of magic. Wow. Just wow. The summary alone is a piece of genius.

You Can Run But You Can't Hide
Category: Snape aged 41 and beyond
Character(s): Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Hermione Granger, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Draco Malfoy, Seamus Finnegan
Rating: PG
I'm not normally a fan of crack!fic, but when it's clever and funny and well-characterized, like this story, it's a pleasure.

Comments

[consistentsquash]

OMG! That first art!!! 💔The second art was totally necessary to heal after that :D

Totally would have skipped the crackfic if you didn’t rec it. Good Snape voice! Thanks for that rec! Loved it.

I didn’t read a lot of fics at Snapecase because of a lot of other AO3 fests are happening at the same time. HP Rare Pair Fest 2022 got a McGonagall/Mrs. Norris fic. Which. Why. But also respect the creativity! Link if you wanted to check it out. But I don’t know if I can honestly rec it.

I read a Snapecase fic PI recced on Tumblr Twenty Not-So-Random Moments on the Day of Severus' Birth. Normally I don’t go for pregnancy/birth type fics. But this one was heartbreaking. Really strong emotional connect. There was something in that fic about how Tobias says Eileen looks beautiful when crying…OMG💔

Also I read the caravan Snamione fic When in Roma! The descriptions in that fic esp about the caravan was so beautiful!!

Of course I read Golem! Totally with you about the summary! The summary was the main reason I read it. I don’t know if it’s the present tense + passive voice combo that got me really sucked in. But feeling detached at the same? It’s a weird combo especially with the Wuthering Heights vibe of that fic. The ending was hard to get about whether she was a golem or the real deal. But maybe that was the intention. It's so totally creepy/problematic/brilliant.

I need to find your fic!!! Actually I am trying to find your fic using just the summary :D

[kelly_chambliss]

Glad you liked the art; I thought it was most impressive. All the art in this fest has been excellent, actually.

I enjoyed those two fics you mentioned as well -- "Not-So-Random" and "When In Roma." I considered reccing the latter since it was so well-written and atmospheric. I'm not a huge SS/HG fan, though (I find it hard to get past his abuse of her as a child). (I know it's not completely consistent that I should accept him in a relationship with Minerva, since he's still the same flawed man. But there it is.)

And "Golem" -- beyond impressive. As with all that wonderful author's fics, I leave them not being completely sure exactly what happens. But that's part of the pleasure.

Thanks for the link to the Minerva/"Mrs Norris" story -- I really enjoyed it. A very creative, clever story. I have my quibbles with it, of course, but in general I thought it was extremely well-done. It wasn't really a cat/cat pairing; no bestiality at all. (That's not usually my thing, though I did once read an actual cat!Minerva/Crookshanks crack!fic that was hilarious.)

[consistentsquash]

:D I don't really ship SSHG myself. The comment about her teeth in GoF is the one a lot of folks talk about but I feel more fundamentally that he should have more sympathy for her because they are pretty similar in how they got started as students. He singled her out in a lot of ways. Oof. Anyway, it is weird because I ship Snarry and that's more problematic.

SS/MM is a different dynamic, IMO! They feel like they are dealing with each other as peers in canon. SSHG and MMAD are probably more similar to each other in the dynamics.

Squibstress wrote an amazing rec for the Mrs. Norris fic on Tumblr which really does justice to it!